| LARDEF |
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| Liga de Apoio à Integração dos Deficientes (LARDEF) |
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| Ivo and team meeting disabled people and community members in Moxico |
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| LARDEF - a mother and her deaf son participating at a community meeting of disabled people in Chongoroi, Benguela Province |
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| LARDEF - Moxico |
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| LARDEF and other FAPED members at a disability rights training seminar with Alex Phiri (SAFOD) front left |
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| The LARDEF team at their Moxico office |
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The league to support the integration of disabled people
Angola is the arena for DDP’s most substantial capacity-building programme with our partners LARDEF. It started in 2001 when DDP visited Angola to research the situation of disabled people in a conflict situation, and also with the view of finding a partner with potential for development work with disabled people. LARDEF, established in 1997 was a voluntary organisation made up of 19 founder members, war veterans and people who been disabled as a result of the conflict.
LARDEF’s vision 'an environment without barriers where disabled people are included in society and their rights are respected' and their determination to support and integrate disabled people in society continue to be impressive. Over the 6 years of our partnership LARDEF has developed into a dynamic organisation, with a membership of nearly 8000 disabled people and is ever determined to fulfil its mission to represent and promote the rights, interests and participation of disabled people.
70% of the population still lives in poverty despite the post conflict reconstruction and development programmes. Among them an estimated 1.2 million people with disabilities are probably the most disadvantaged, as they are still marginalised and excluded from social, livelihood and development opportunities and denied equality.
Against this background, our growing partnership with LARDEF is tremendously important. It helped LARDEF change from a volunteer body to a professional organisation, which with DDP’s support, runs campaigns to raise awareness on disability issues and human rights and income generating programmes that provide skills and livelihood opportunities to disabled people and their families. In the past 3 years alone, LARDEF’s work brought dramatic improvements to the lives of some 400 beneficiaries and their families, directly impacting over 2000 people.
DDP/LARDEF programme partnerships |
- Dignidade
- Twendi
- Tchilema
- Avante
Advocacy for Inclusion
Drawing from the experience and lessons learnt in our work, we have been in the past year developing a 5 year strategic programme - Advocacy for Inclusion - which will help LARDEF make the necessary step changes to make its advocacy work significantly more powerful and influential to bring significant and real changes to disabled lives. LARDEF at national level will campaign to mainstream disability through Government economic programmes and post conflict reconstruction, the enactment of a national disability law and adoption of the UN Convention by Angola. LARDEF is steadily making an inroad in regional (SADAC) level, through its new role as Deputy Chair in SAFOD and as the Secretariat in Africa, for the Federation of Disabled People (FDLP) of Portuguese speaking countries.
Partners Address>> |
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